May 21, 1986, Wednesday, Final Edition
Dean's Fiance Disputes Police Version of Incident;
Says 'No One Ever Laid a Hand on Me'
BYLINE: By Leonard Shapiro and Patricia Davis, Washington
Post Staff Writers
SECTION: Sports; B1
LENGTH: 937 words
Vernon Dean's fiance said yesterday that the Washington
Redskins cornerback "never hit me" during an incident at a Fairfax
County police station Friday night and Dean's attorney said Dean himself was
"attacked by several police officers."
Chartese Berry, 24, a sales representative for Xerox who
works in Northern Virginia and lives in the District, said in an interview
yesterday, "I am being cited as a victim of an assault; no one ever laid a
hand on me, not once . . . If everything had happened the way they [police]
said, I wouldn't have been able to walk, much less work. It is such a joke."
Police had said Monday that Dean struck Berry several times
with his fist at a McLean police station and "became extremely
violent" when an officer intervened.
"Vernon Dean did not strike anyone," said Los
Angeles-based attorney Leonard Armato, who said he spoke with Dean by telephone
yesterday concerning the incident, which resulted in Dean being charged with
assaulting a police officer and driving with a suspended operator's license.
Berry said she and Dean were arguing in the 9000 block of
Leesburg Pike when an officer arrived. She said she left with the officer and
went with him to a McLean police station because she thought it would be a good
idea for both her and Dean to "cool off."
At the station, she said she left to go outside where Dean
was waiting, and on her way back in to the station, Dean put his hand on her to
stop her. She said police then told Dean he was under arrest and that Dean told
police, "Look, get off me, I'm okay."
"They're claiming he assaulted a police officer,"
she said. "That's crazy.
" . . . If anyone, especially Vernon, had hit me with a
fist, I wouldn't be here telling you right now."
Dean said yesterday he has been told by Armato not to
comment.
In a telephone interview from Los Angeles, Armato said,
"I'm saying they [police] attacked him because he was not cooperating with
their decision to intervene in what was essentially a domestic squabble . . .
This is something that's been blown out of proportion by police trying to cover
up their conduct. It's typical of the way they deal with black athletes.
"A police officer comes on the scene, a black guy is
involved . . . The cops say to him, 'I don't care who you are,' then they say a
guy is resisting arrest . . . They always say they're assaulting the police.
It's a typical excuse police give for reprehensible conduct . . . They have to
justify the arrest. I'm getting tired of it."
Fairfax County police spokeswoman Connie Curran, asked to
respond to Armato, said, "I'm so glad you mentioned that black part,
because the officer involved in the arrest was black." She also indicated
it is police policy not to identify the officer involved.
"We got a call [about the argument], and it was not an
anonymous tip, we have the person's name," Curran said. "The officer
responded. Both people [Dean and Berry] were out of their cars. The woman came
up to the officer and he asked her if she wanted to go to the McLean station.
She thought that was a great idea.
"The officer escorted the girl into the station, and
then Mr. Dean came into the station. That's where he struck his fiance, in the
presence of the officer, who is black. He was the only officer around. She
screamed and she cried. The officer then ordered him to stop and he became
violent. At that point, the officer grabbed Dean and said, 'You are under
arrest.'
"Now there is a scuffle in front of the desk person,
and two other officers assisted. It was a long scuffle . . . I read the report.
It was not a cooperative arrest.
"If we wanted to cover up our actions, why didn't the
scuffle take place out on the street where the officer first encountered them?
We try not to make an arrest in a family or domestic squabble. The primary
thing is to break it up. We try to get people apart and suggest that one or the
other leave. We tried to defuse this situation.
"The allegations being made by the attorney are in
direct conflict with the officer's report . . . He [Dean] had no business
following her [to McLean]."
Armato said yesterday that Dean did not think police should
have been involved.
"Vernon was disturbed that people were interfering in
this argument," he said. "I don't think there's any evidence that he
struck her. He may have held onto her arm while she pulled away . . . He knew
she was upset. All he was doing was trying to keep her from doing something reckless.
He was concerned for her safety.
". . . Vernon was holding her arm and probably said
some things to the officers they didn't like. Police have to justify their
conduct . . . "
Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said he could
not talk specifically about the case but said, "Once the emotions cool in
cases like this, people tend to put a different face on it. That's the reality
of domestic cases in general. We have an endless number of cases where someone
on Friday or Saturday night files a criminal charge and on Monday there's a
different view of it.
"The normal way of dealing with it is to put the case
on and let the umpire decide. That's what we'll do."
Dean, who was released on personal recognizance bonds
totaling $500 Friday night, has a court date June 17 at General District Court
in Fairfax. If convicted on the assault charge, a misdemeanor, he could be
sentenced to one year in jail. The suspended license charge carries a maximum
six months in jail and a $500 fine.
Armato said he would decide in the next day or two whether
to come east or arrange for a local attorney to handle Dean's case.